


Four Annums

by AtomicPen



Series: Wings Straight and Swift Will Bring Us Home [9]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: Annums, Cycle, Father-Daughter Relationship, Ficlet, Gen, Memories, Other, Post-Game, Themed, reflections
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-09
Updated: 2013-08-09
Packaged: 2017-12-22 21:45:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/918378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AtomicPen/pseuds/AtomicPen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Every life followed the annums, just as the years did. Each had their cycles, every one a wheel, and for everyone the wheel turned. Some wheels were fast, some slow. Some turned sunwise, some not. The older he got, the more clearly he could look and see his own wheel.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Four Annums

"Life is like the annums, my grandfather always use to say," he said, twisting a spike of wheat in his fingers. He lay in a field beneath the open sky, along the gentle slope of a hillock. Looking up at the clear sky dotted only now and again with high-soaring cumulo nimbus, Sebastian couldn't think of a better way to spend a day stolen away from his court than with his youngest. His sweet little star of a girl, and the spark that lit up his eyes.

"Like the annums?" The little girl with the bright cerulean eyes came running over to him, watching the wheat caryopsis spin.

"I know you know them--I sat in on your lessons," he teased, eyes sliding over to her. "Go on, name them for me."

She giggled and flopped down onto his chest, burying her face in his old, soft tunic. "Da--you know them more," came her muffled reply.

"No I don't; I'm an old man. Remind me."

She lifted her head, coppery spirals in a mess around her face. He smoothed them for her as she listed.

"Wintersend, Summerday," she began, then scrunched her nose. "Uk, Sa-Saturnalia, and..."

He waited a moment before giving her a hint. "It's anything _but_ fun..."

She turned her face to him, exuberant. "Funalis!"

Crow's feet crinkling at the corners of his eyes, he smiled and leaned up to touch the tip of her nose with his own. "That's right, little star. The most somber of them all, but perhaps the most important." His eyes grew distant.

She watched him for a few breaths before asking in a small, mildly awed voice, "Da, what's somber?"

His eyes focused back on her, though his smile turned sad. "Hmm. Something I hope you don't experience for many more years. It's quiet and just a little sad. Respectful, I suppose. Nothing fit for little stars!" In an instant playful again, he scuttled his fingers along her aides, tickling her into bright laughter. She didn't have to learn such things yet, he decided. Let her be always happy a while longer. Let her be innocent of the world just a little longer. Every life followed the annums, just as the years did. Each had their cycles, every one a wheel, and for everyone the wheel turned. Some wheels were fast, some slow. Some turned sunwise, some not. The older he got, the more clearly he could look and see his own wheel.

Looking at his daughter, Sebastian's only wish was for hers to always turn sunwise, and be full of more Wintersends and Summerdays than not.


End file.
